Senator: Bill ends flaw seen in Pa. basement case

PHILADELPHIA 
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania is unveiling legislation that he says will close a Social Security Administration loophole that may have helped a woman accused of locking disabled adults in a basement and cashing their checks evade capture for years.

The bill Casey announced Monday would allow the Social Security Administration access to existing government databases that identify violent criminals ineligible to serve as representative payees.

That's the status investigators say the suspects in the Philadelphia basement case used to bilk their captives of their benefit checks.

For years, police say the suspects were allowed to collect Social Security checks on behalf of children, teens and the adults with disabilities, even though they would have failed a routine criminal background check.